Elevate Your Active Journey in 2024: A Guide to Setting and Achieving Running Goals at The McDonald's Townsville Running Festival. As we stand on the cusp of a new year, the opportunity to reflect and set goals for the upcoming months is upon us. For those considering embracing an active lifestyle in 2024, The McDonald's Townsville Running Festival offers an ideal platform to challenge oneself and find joy in the world of running. This guide will help you navigate the process of goal setting, drawing inspiration from the festival's unique atmosphere and diverse range of events, set against the scenic backdrop of the roads along the Strand and Pallarenda beaches in Townsville North Queensland. Define Your Purpose: Before delving into your running goals for The McDonald's Townsville Running Festival, take a moment to reflect on your purpose. Clarify why you run and what you hope to achieve during this exhilarating event. Setting SMART Goals: In the spirit of The McDonald's Townsville Running Festival, where runners of all levels converge, embrace SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). Whether you're a seasoned marathoner or a beginner, let your goals be a source of motivation and personal growth. Gradual Progression: Just as the festival offers various races and stunning coastal views, ensure your objectives foster a sense of accomplishment without compromising your well-being. Example - The Audacious Marathon Goal: Consider someone transitioning from a 5K to a marathon at The McDonald's Townsville Running Festival in August, set along the roads next to the Strand and Pallarenda beach. Instead of attempting the marathon unprepared, steadily build your weekly long run and relish the mental benefits of steady improvement. Breaking Down the Goal: Main Goal: Complete a 42.2km run at The McDonald's Townsville Running Festival on August 4th Weekly Goals: Run 3 times per week under the guidance of a run coach or program Designate Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings for runs Use weekends for longer runs to progress distance each week or fortnight Incorporate 5-10 minutes of stretching after each run Lead-in Events: Consider additional events in the lead up as mini-checkpoints to gauge progress and maintain motivation. Example: Jan- run 5km event Feb- run 8-10km event March- run 12 km event May-run 16km event July- run 20km event (Progress as needed for goal event) Example - The Weight Loss Goal: In tandem with running goals, some people may set a weight loss objective. Main Goal: Achieve a 10-30kg weight loss (examples only not needed or recommended for all) Weekly Goals: Maintain a calorie deficit and consume healthy, low-calorie-density foods Exercise 5 days per week, including 3 runs and 2 gym sessions Prepare a series of meals for the week to support healthy eating Conduct weekly/monthly weigh-ins or body fat tests etc to track progress Involving Others and Personality Types: Accountability plays a crucial role in goal achievement. Whether it's friends, family, coaches, or other trainers, sharing your goals with others can boost motivation and commitment. Basic Progression Rules: Adhere to the approximate rule of no more than a 10% improvement per week to mitigate the risk of injury. Ensure sufficient recovery time for muscles, tendons, and the central nervous system. Long-Term Sustainable Approach: Success indicators, such as time or distance goals, should align with your overarching objectives. Don't embark on this journey alone—having accountability partners ensures mutual support and encouragement. Conclusion: As you prepare for The McDonald's Townsville Running Festival, let the setting and achieving of meaningful running goals enhance your overall experience. Enjoy the journey, celebrate your achievements, and relish the unique atmosphere of the festival along the scenic roads by the Strand and Pallarenda beaches in Townsville North Queensland. See you at the starting line, ready to conquer your goals on August 4th, 2024! We have a number of Free training guides and plans on our website: From the Couch to your first 5km From 5km to your first 10km From 10km to your first Half Marathon (21.1km) From Half Marathon to your First Marathon (42.2km) Always Consult your doctor or health professional when starting a new health program, you need to consider your individual medical conditions and injuries when setting a goal. Article By Joel Savage

Goal setting is an important part of your yearly planning and part of that process is writing a yearly plan to ensure your success. Use these helpful steps below to guide you: 5 steps to build your season: 1. While it's important to have goals in your training season, it's important to be clear about your expectations. An easy way to do this is to keep your approach to this simple yet very clear. 2. In the first step you identified your expectations. The next step is to plan your goals/races that will create your path to these events. An important thing to remember here is choose your main event/goal and around this you should include some more relaxed events/goals to compliment your main event/goal. 3. Understanding the demands of your goals is unique to each runner. Try not to focus too much on the difficult aspects of your event and look at it in the bigger picture in terms of how to train. To do this you will need to split your training season in to parts by looking at your events/goals as a whole and plan your training sessions accordingly. These will change and evolve over the year as you move closer to your main event/goal. 4. While thinking about the events/goals you listed in step 2, list the skills you need and when to develop them. It's important to remain objective here! Work hard on the skills you lack while still maintaing the strengths you already have. 5. Once you have followed the previous four steps, your season goals and training targets should be very detailed and clear. Now it's time to plan your training phases. In this last step you now want to set time frames for every part of your training, this includes your base training, peaking, tapering, racing and recovery periods. This step will require some training knowledge and will be specific to each runner.

Important information for wheelchair athletes

Hill running is a fantastic way to help develop improved running economy and stiffness at the joints, for someone who is new to running doing too many hills can put too much strain on the muscle fibres and connective tissues and on the Achilles tendon. While there is not a fantastic body of literature with hill running and performance there has been plenty of practical results with incorporating hill running into training. In the early 1960’s a large amount of New Zealand athletes were winning Olympic medals for middle distance running, what changed? Arthur Lydiard had his athletes training more like marathon runners, instead of the classic (at the time) training regime that consisted mostly of interval training. Another important difference was the implementation of hill running, Arthur believed hill sessions to also be key. Running rolling hills helps the body adapt to greater stress with the changing of cadence and stride lengths, which also improved running economy and reactive power. Tips For Hill Running: 1. Ensure you have a fair amount of running Km’s in the body before moving into including hill running into your training regime. 2. Don’t lean too far forwards when running uphill. Overly tilted forward body posture can move the pelvis into a posterior tilt where the gluteal muscle group (a major force production muscle) does not work efficiently and can stress the low back. 3. Use your arms. Normally the casual endurance athlete has a very relaxed arm swing, compared to the sprint athletes who actively swing their arms, active arm swing is a good way to help generate force at the legs through the stretch shortening cycle, so while climbing those hills and you need a little extra power going up those hills, powerful downward arm swing can help. 4. Cadence, the longer the foot is in contact with the ground the greater eccentric forces the legs experience which in turn leads to greater muscle fatigued and inefficient strides. Using cadence to reduce your contact time and improve muscle efficiency is a great way to help get you over the hill and powering through the run. Whilst hill running is a fantastic way to help develop improved running economy and stiffness at the joints, for someone who is new to running doing too many hills can put too much strain on the muscle fibres and connective tissues and on the Achilles tendon. Most common causes of running injuries are related to incorrect loading of training, so before incorporating a hill run every week in your initial program, ask the advice of either a running coach or health professional.

Townsville City Council's contribution to the McDonald's Townsville Running Festival

A simple approach to running a longer distance

From Couch to 5km - Training Plan

Part 1 – Couch to 5km Yes, this is a huge step if you haven’t run before, but it only requires you to have the desire to achieve that goal.